SA Rugby Union has recently announced some impressive new sponsorship deals and has also been celebrating success of strategic marketing campaigns. As the emphasis moves from the RWC in England to preparation for Japan 2019, the focus now is on becoming the world’s number one team.
In modern times, professional Rugby is often regarded as both a sport and a business, with the latter’s influence growing more and more each year. There are many out there who view professional athleticism as a contradiction of the central ethos of sport, competition performed for its own sake and pure enjoyment, rather than as a means of earning a living. But the reality is that the business side of things has come too far to be lost and the money and interest generated by corporate involvement is vital for the lives of so many.
So how do you manage a sport like a business; how do you set goals and targets and also ensure financial success for an entity that is essentially formed by people playing games? It’s a tough ask and when it comes to Rugby, one of South Africa’s national sports, the responsibility falls to South African Rugby Union (SARU).
SARU is the official governing body for rugby in South Africa. It is a federation made up of 14 independent rugby unions covering the length and breadth of the country and is responsible for the Springboks, Springbok Sevens, Junior Springboks (Under-20s) and Springbok Women’s teams, as well as such domestic competitions as the Absa Currie Cup, the Vodacom Cup, Absa Under-21 and Under-19 competitions and Cell C Community Cup.
SARU’s mandate covers three main areas as General Manager of Corporate Affairs, Andy Colquhoun explains: “We have a strategic transformation plan which is a weighty document but in broad terms, we want to be number one in the world, we want to transform our game and we want to make money.
“New Zealand are in such a good space at the moment’ it’s going to take some serious on-field work to reach number one. In terms of transformation, we’ve got a plan which is aligned for 2019 and we are working on that on an annual basis. In terms of making money, we’ve reported profits in the last four years, we’re managing our income and we will continue to do that.
“We manage the national teams and competitions as well as the broadcasts and sponsorship rights, and we drive development programmes and transformation in South African rugby so we are involved in all aspects of the game,” he says.
MARKETING
In November, SARU received recognition for its marketing innovation when it was nominated for three Discovery Sports Industry Awards.
The ‘Home Grown Advantage’ campaign saw SARU put grass grown in South Africa in the dressing rooms of the springboks, promoting the message that the entire country was behind the team during the Rugby World Cup in England.
A special piece of turf was grown in soil drawn from all South African rugby provinces and was taken to England where it was planted and placed in special trays making it the last thing the players’ boots touched before they entered the field during the tournament.
The campaign also featured unique jersey numbers for the players made up of hundreds of fan selfies as well as social media campaigns and a television commercial.
“We wanted some way to make our Home Ground Advantage campaign tangible for the players,” said SARU CEO, Jurie Roux.
The campaign was nominated for Best Use of Digital Communications in Sport, Creative Activation of the Year and TV Sport Commercial of the Year.
“Our Home Ground Advantage campaign achieved the objective of igniting support for the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup and the nominations are a reward for the hard work put in by our various SARU departments and their partners. This is particularly satisfying given how competitive the sport industry has become over the past few years,” said Roux.
This month, SARU is focussed on driving interest in the sevens and the Super Rugby for 2016, building on the success of the campaigns from the World Cup.
“This year, being a Rugby World Cup year, was marketed around the competition and specifically supporting the springboks. We ran the Home Grown Advantage campaign which was successful. We have been busy marketing the World Rugby Sevens Series and next year we will start with Super Rugby so we market around our competitions and our national teams. We don’t do a generic ‘rugby is great, play rugby’ campaign; the 14 provincial unions run their own marketing campaigns,” explains Colquhoun.
In a positive sign for the marketing department, attendances in South Africa have managed to maintain good levels, showing that the campaigns are having an impact.
“Attendances are not where they were prior to the invention of satellite television but it is good in Super Rugby. Australia and New Zealand saw a sharp decline in live attendances whereas ours held up well on TV and in live attendances,” says Colquhoun.
SPONSORSHIP
In a recent sponsorship announcement, SARU was excited to detail its new partnership with insurance company Outsurance who will sponsor the union’s referees for the next three years.
Sponsorship forms a big part of SARU’s income and forming long-standing partnerships with companies that want to be involved with the game is hugely important.
“It’s a privilege to have a company with a high public profile such as Outsurance commit to sponsoring rugby in South Africa and I’d like to welcome them to the team,” said Jurie Roux.
“The fact that big companies are excited to become involved in South African rugby speaks volumes and we’re grateful for their wonderful support. We can’t wait to work together with them in the coming years.”
Outsurance replaces previous referee sponsor, Marriott Hotels, and comes at a perfect time for SARU who have recently lost two high-profile sponsors in Absa and BMW.
Absa announced it would not renew its contract as jersey sponsor and BMW quickly followed in removing its sponsorship which included the automotive manufacturer’s logo on the team shorts and provision of vehicles for the team when there were in South Africa. While many reported the ongoing battle to transform SA rugby as the key reason for the loss of sponsorship, the SARU committee met to discuss the appointment of a new head coach, transformation targets and also how to divide its estimated R1 billion budget between 14 provinces over the next year.
Attracting people to the game, from a range of different backgrounds, is key for SARU and the organisation is currently working hard to promote the ‘Get Into Rugby’ campaign devised by World Rugby to encourage youngsters into the game.
“We work with World Rugby on a programme called Get Into Rugby which we are rolling out across the county so we do have a grassroots version of the game. A lot of our development programmes are managed by our provincial rugby unions. They will apply for grants from us and if their projects are aligned with our broader strategic transformation plans, then we will disperse money to them. We’ve got one kind of overarching project and the rest are run by our 14 provincial rugby union members,” says Colquhoun.
The coming years will be both challenging and exciting for SARU as the preparations for the World Cup in Japan begin.
On the business side, two important announcements, again pertaining to sponsorship, were made in December. Firstly, SARU welcomed Bidvest Car Rental into their sponsorship family as the Official Car Rental Supplier to the Springboks and SA Rugby as part of a five year deal.
Gaynor Von Loggenburg, Sales and Marketing Director of Bidvest Car Rental, said: “We believe in the power of the Springbok brand and that we will be supporting something that our customers are passionate about. We have made major strides as a company since our launch and this sponsorship is a key part of our strategy to build the Bidvest Car Rental brand in the minds of local and international travellers.”
This welcome news was quickly followed by more positivity when market-leading sports drink, Energade, renewed its sponsorship of the Boks for another five years.
“We know that Energade pick their involvement with sports sponsorships very carefully and it speaks volumes that they have decided to renew with us, especially as we’re currently in a tough economic climate,” said Jurie Roux.
Both of these announcements came after one of the most high-profile sponsors in the portfolio, Tsogo Sun, successfully renewed its deal with SARU for another five years bringing the relationship between the two to more than 20 years together.
“Tsogo Sun has established itself as one of the top hotel groups in Africa and we are delighted to extend our partnership with them for another five years,” said Roux.
“We have developed a strong partnership with Tsogo Sun over the last 20 years, and we are looking forward to another mutually-beneficial five years with the group.”